Wherefore, Lest He Might Again Miss It If He
Returned To Gomera, He Resolved To Make A New Rudder For
The Pinta at Gran
Canaria, and ordered the square sails of the Nina to be changed to round
ones, like
Those of the other two vessels, that she might be able to
accompany them with less danger and agitation.
The vessels being all refitted, the admiral weighed anchor from Gran
Canaria on Saturday the first of September, and arrived next day at Gomera,
where four days were employed in completing their stores of provisions and
of wood and water. On the morning of Thursday the sixth of September 1492,
the admiral took his departure from Gomera, and commenced his great
undertaking by standing directly westwards, but made very slow progress at
first on account of calms. On Sunday the ninth of September, about
day-break, they were nine leagues west of the island of Ferro. Now losing
sight of land and stretching out into utterly unknown seas, many of the
people expressed their anxiety and fear that it might be long before they
should see land again; but the admiral used every endeavour to comfort
them with the assurance of soon finding the land he was in search of, and
raised their hopes of acquiring wealth and honour by the discovery. To
lessen the fear which they entertained of the length of way they had to
sail, he gave out that they had only proceeded fifteen leagues that day,
when the actual distance sailed was eighteen; and to induce the people to
believe that they were not so far from Spain as they really were, he
resolved to keep considerably short in his reckoning during the whole
voyage, though he carefully recorded the true reckoning every day in
private.
On Wednesday the twelfth September, having got to about 150 leagues west
of Ferro, they discovered a large trunk of a tree, sufficient to have been
the mast to a vessel of 120 tons, and which seemed to have been a long
time in the water. At this distance from Ferro, and for somewhat farther
on, the current was found to set strongly to the north-east. Next day,
when they had run fifty leagues farther westwards, the needle was observed
to vary half a point to the eastward of north, and next morning the
variation was a whole point east. This variation of the compas had never
been before observed, and therefore the admiral was much surprised at the
phenomenon, and concluded that the needle did not actually point towards
the polar star, but to some other fixed point. Three days afterwards, when
almost 100 leagues farther west, he was still more astonished at the
irregularity of the variation; for having observed the needle to vary a
whole point to the eastwards at night, it pointed directly northwards in
the morning. On the night of Saturday the fifteenth of September, being
then almost 300 leagues west of Ferro, they saw a prodigious flash of
light, or fire-ball, drop from the sky into the sea, at four or five
leagues distance from the ships towards the south-west.
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